


(finally) facing my waterloo

by AP0LL0S



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Day At The Beach, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AP0LL0S/pseuds/AP0LL0S
Summary: “You can trust me.”“I know.” He admitted with a gentle nod.or,,where sakusa kiyoomi meets the sea
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 80





	(finally) facing my waterloo

**Author's Note:**

> alternate title: "pisces!sakusa can't swim: a documentary"

To most people, there was an inherent idea of mollification in the sea. The waves washing their calves, prickly soft sand caressing bare feet. However, Sakusa was not most people. The waves, as tenuous as they might be, scared him, and the sand was always rash and too hot under his toes. So, he didn’t enjoy going to the beach. He wouldn’t go to the beach out of his own free will.

That’s why finding himself sitting on a folding yellow beach chair was also a surprise to him. He had an old cap on top of his hair, but the sun still streaked down his shoulders that were partially covered by the straps of a tank top. It was blazing hot, he decided. He wanted to leave right away.

“Hey, yer ok?” 

Sakusa took a glance at the man in front of him. As far as he could tell the sand didn’t annoy Atsumu, neither did the sound of the sea booming in the background. He was mindlessly trying to stick the beach umbrella into the sand, his tongue sticking out of his lips in a mannerism he adopted when focusing on something. 

“I guess.”

“You guess?” Atsumu tilted his head curiously while holding the pole of the umbrella.

“I’m ok.” Sakusa assured with a quick nod.

He didn’t have it in himself to tell Atsumu that he didn’t like the beach. They had been planning the trip for weeks, Atsumu boosting over his family’s tradition of going to the beach on the first day of summer. 

He told Sakusa about how his father would teach him and Osamu how to swim, about how he’d try to drown Osamu, about his mother waiting for them in the sand with a spread picnic towel and dozens of snacks that were reserved for special days only. Atsumu’s eyes would glint the whole time while telling his childhood memories, and Sakusa wished he could understand that feeling. His parents were busy most of the time, retrieving to their home-offices even on their free days. Sakusa eventually learned to enjoy his own company, and it was only years later that he realized that the concept of tradition was foreign to him. 

“You don’t look ok.” The blonde-haired man pointed out after finally sticking the umbrella in the sand. He looked at Sakusa in the eyes and sat in front of him, seemingly not caring about the sand that would get inside his shorts. “Talk to me Omi-kun, what’s bothering you?”

“I can’t swim.”

He only took up his words after blurting them out. Atsumu was staring at him with a funny expression and a smile making its way onto his lips. 

“You can’t swim? Sakusa-I-can-do-everything-Kiyoomi can’t swim?” He tried mimicking Sakusa, furrowing his eyebrows in a clear effort of getting into character. Sakusa just rolled his eyes.

“I don’t sound like that.” Sakusa grunted. “And when did I ever say such a thing?”

“No need to say it, I can read your mind.” 

He was going to argue against it and tell Atsumu that he was being ridiculous. But he also knew that despite, obviously, not being able to read his mind, Atsumu was the person who understood him the best. It still struck him down how similar their differences were. How Atsumu would understand his need for space, even if he was noisy most of the time. How easily he could fall into Atsumu’s chatter that was supposed to tire him down. How they recognized each other’s barriers, and instead of trying to tear them down, they’d find a way to cross them. Sakusa still needed his space, but Atsumu helped him realize that it was feasible to open up just a little bit more. 

“Don’t mock me.”

“I’m not mocking you. I just find it funny.”

“That’s mocking.”

“No, listen.” Atsumu grinned and leaned towards him, his hands hovering over Sakusa’s knees before finally letting his palms meet his bare skin. His hands were warm and calloused, and it felt familiar. “It’s endearing.”

“I’m going to kick you.”

Atsumu laughed out loud, carefree, and joyful. His hands were still holding Sakusa’s knees, so it made his whole body reverberate along with Atsumu’s. It felt like a bolt of energy waking him up. A small reminder of how big Atsumu’s presence was and how sensitive he was to it. Every tiny bit of his body responding to Atsumu’s complex aura. 

“I’d rather you kissed me.” He flashed a grin. “But I mean it. I can teach you how to swim! Isn’t that exciting?”

“The prospect of drowning does not sound exciting at all.” His two little moles were simultaneously raised along with his eyebrow. “I am scared, Atsumu.”

For a second, Atsumu said nothing. But then he got up and held out his hand, which Sakusa promptly took, his body craving for his touch after having warm and calloused hands abandoning his knees. That was something he had to learn to accept. His pull towards Atsumu and the absurd ease the blonde-haired man brought upon him.

“Let’s just take a walk along the shore.” 

“Atsumu…”

Like any fear, Sakusa was irrationally terrified of the waves. Sitting on the sand, very much away from the sea, still scared him down. He kept hearing the washing sounds of water hugging the sand and the seagulls flying in circles in the clear blue sky. 

He reminded himself that he probably should’ve told Atsumu about this way before driving thousands of miles to the beach. But he kept remembering Atsumu’s utter enthusiasm while listing the things they could do once they arrived at the beach, his nostalgic expression before the opportunity of going back to a place where he’d once been a carefree child.

Sakusa wanted to try his best and enjoy the trip. Mostly for Atsumu, if not entirely for him.

“Don’t pull any trick on me.”

“Yer gonna have to put some more faith in me.” Atsumu said while his thumb traveled along Sakusa’s stiff knuckles. “You can trust me.”

“I know.” He admitted with a gentle nod.

“Let’s go, I’ll be right here.”

He tightened the grip on Atsumu’s hand while they made their way to the sea, the smell of salt becoming more and more prominent. Soon the sand progressed from being grainy and hot to turning dense and fresh. His eyes carefully followed the path his feet were making so that he wouldn’t step on old pieces of trash that were scattered around.

“I’m actually a really good swimmer, you know?” Atsumu’s voice served as a reminder that he wasn’t alone and that the sea wasn’t going to devour him. “My mom wanted me to join the swimming club instead of volleyball. Can you imagine, Omi-Omi?”

“Not really.” Sakusa scrunched his nose, not because of Atsumu’s words but because suddenly there was kelp trying to envelop his right foot.

“Oh, those are nasty.” Atsumu laughed and leaned down to detangle the kelp from Sakusa’s heel and throw it back into the water. “But anyway, I told my mom that I didn’t want to join the swimming club because I look so ugly in swimming caps. You have no idea.”

“And yet you dye your hair yellow.” 

“ _ Hey! _ ” Atsumu pouted and jabbed him. “You said you like it.”

“More like I grew used to it.” Sakusa said with a chuckle. 

“You think yer so pretty with your curly dark hair, uh?” 

“I am.”

“Shut up.” Atsumu grunted, but there was no malice arising from his words, a sneer on his lips.

Sakusa’s heart was beating loudly while strolling down the shoreline, hand in hand with Atsumu, who stood amid him and the rolling waves. It soothed him down a tiny bit as if Atsumu’s broad posture resembled a wall protecting him from the other side. A side where the sea was moving on its own free will, reminding him of his fears.

“I’m really happy you agreed on coming.” Atsumu muttered and Sakusa looked at him, the sun bathing his skin and turning it golden. “I tried convincing ‘Samu last year but he was pretty busy with his restaurant. I get it, it’s part of growing up. But sometimes I miss those old days, you know?”

And in spite of not being fond of his childhood days, he could understand what Atsumu was trying to convey. Sometimes he’d look at Atsumu and see everything but a twenty-two-year-old man. He’d see a small boy with sparkly eyes trapped inside a too big body. And hearing Atsumu’s stories from when he was a little boy, he could tell that he kept grasping for his old ways, keeping on traditions that his family had long let go.

“Yeah.” Sakusa nodded and let his body be drawn towards Atsumu, their arms touching from shoulder to wrist. Like a magnetic phenomenon.

“I thought you wouldn’t want to come.” He said, barely a whisper. “This is not the type of place yer comfortable in, and I really appreciate it that you’re here.”

Atsumu was smart. Sakusa learned that from the beginning, right from the moment he first encountered him back in their high school days. Even if he sounded silly and dropped uncalled-for comments, Atsumu was a sharp player and Sakusa appreciated that.

Only he didn’t expect realizing that Atsumu was also emotionally-smart. Sakusa grew up used to accommodating to other people, trying his best to fit in. He never expected people to accommodate to him. So, when Atsumu barged into his life, he was taken aback. For once he learned that accommodating went both ways and that he shouldn’t be the only one adjusting to his surroundings. Atsumu taught him what he had always wanted to learn.

“I can work with it.” He squeezed Atsumu’s hand once again. “You’re here.”

And as long as Atsumu was there with him, he’d try his best to make it work. 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it, thank you so much for reading!! <3
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/DABISHIMA)


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